A Power User's Guide to Following FC

There are a lot of features of XenForo (the forum software here) that I love, as an avid reader of FC. There have been several occasions where I've seen other members do things or ask questions that show that they aren't using the forum software to its full potential, such as asking where to find a page that shows what threads they are subscribed to, or posting in a thread with a message that only says "Subscribed!". I decided to write up a guide showing how I keep up with FC, and point out some nice features in the process.

Without further ado:

Go to each section you are interested in (as well as sub-sections like the portable and plug-in Thread Candidates sections) and click the Watch Forum link at the top right of the thread list:

Click the radio button for "New Threads" and make sure the box for emails is unchecked, unless that's your thing:

Now you'll get alerts whenever a new thread is created in each forum you mark as watched. IMO this is especially great for keeping up with the newest vapes on the horizon (in the thread candidates sections), the newest items for sale in the Classifieds, and the newest questions in Ask FC if you're in a helpful mood.

As for how to deal with all the alerts, that brings us to Step 2.

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When you visit FC and have multiple alerts, scan through them all (either in the Alert drop-down menu, or on the Alerts page that you can find by actually clicking on the word "Alerts") and right-click any alert that is notifying you of a new thread, someone quoting you, or someone liking one of your posts, and open each of those in a new tab. (You can also hold the control key and click, or use the middle click on your mouse, to open a link in a new tab without bringing up the right-click contextual menu.) Don't worry about the rest of the alerts, we'll get to that later.

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In each tab you've opened that is a newly created thread, decide whether you'd like to follow further posts in those threads. If the answer is yes, click the Watch Thread button at the top right of the first post:

Again, mark the radio button to disable emails unless you dig that:

Now you'll get alerts whenever a reply is posted in that thread, just as if you had created it yourself or replied to it. You should also do this with any other pre-existing threads that you're interested in. Some people aren't aware that you can "watch" a thread without first posting in it; it's a great feature.

Now, I mentioned earlier that you can ignore alerts that inform you of new replies (that aren't quotations of you). The reason why is step 4.

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Once you've combed through all your new alerts for direct quotations, likes, and new threads, you can move on to perusing your own personal sub-forum that you've now created! That is accessible from the Watched Threads link at the top of the page, under the FC logo. The name of the link is a bit of a misnomer, because rather than showing you all of your watched threads, it only shows you your watched threads that have unread posts in them.

Now you can look through and decide which ones you'd like to catch up on. For each one, right click the thread title itself*, and open each in a new tab to create a reading list of sorts. If you happen to have more than 20 watched threads with new posts, the Watched Threads page will only show the most recent 20. However, after opening a few in new tabs, you can go back and refresh the Watched Threads page to remove those you've opened and bring in a few more.

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One last thing to mention is that you can also take a peep at the New Posts page from time to time, in order to see if there's anything interesting going on in a forum that you've chosen not to watch.

There you have it, a power user's guide to keeping up with the goings-on around here.

*I wanted to point this out because in the past I've been a part of many forums which used software that didn't make it easy to hop to the newest unread post in a thread. My habit was to click on a page number underneath the thread title. In XenForo, clicking directly on the thread title itself will bring you straight to the newest unread post!

The back-to-back rule only applies if someone else hasn't posted since your last post in a given thread. Scrolling down the page, as long as someone else's post has showed up beneath yours, you're safe to hit reply and make a new post. If, however, you recently posted and no one has replied, you should edit your last post rather than adding a new one. Excess back-to-back posts waste bandwidth and screen space, and make things a little harder to read.

The exception is if it's been over 6 hours since your last post. At that point, the edit button expires so that people can't just go back editing really old posts willy nilly. If it's been over six hours since your last post in a thread, and no one else has replied since then, you are free to reply again without incurring punishment for back-to-back posting.

Reading this last page, it looks like you were editing your previous post even as others were posting after it. That makes things really confusing to read, because you're quoting posts that haven't happened yet from the perspective of a new reader reading things from top to bottom. No need to edit old posts to reply to people posting after you, you can make a new post then!

I hope this helps make things clearer.

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One more note: when catching up in a thread, hit Reply for each post you want to answer but don't hit Post Reply until you've finished catching up.

Indeed you did. When you do that, the member normally gets an Alert; however, there are two ways that won't happen:

The member you just tagged has turned off Alerts.

You've added the tag with an edit.

One useful link that a lot of members aren't aware of is the link to a specific post. If you hover over the little number in the lower right of each post, you'll see a pop-up that says Permalink. Right click on it and select Copy Link or whatever your browser calls it, done!

My "back to back" entry was a partial post I tried to delete. I thought I HAD deleted it, but there it was when I hit post reply. Why was it still there when I had highlighted it, erased it, and gone on to make a different post? Is there some buffer in which posts sit? I meant to reply to a certain comment, hit the wrong entry by mistake, erased what I wrote, backed out (or so I thought) and then hit the right comment button and wrote what I wanted to write. HOWEVER, when I hit post reply, there was the old text, unwanted, erased or so I thought, sitting right there in the wrong place, and here you are telling me not to do that. I get why and everything, but I don't get why erasing something isn't enough to make it go away! How do I avoid THAT kind of problem? I can't find an answer in the help file for "I erased it but the program still put it in there" problems. Can someone tell me why that happened or how to avoid it?

My "back to back" entry was a partial post I tried to delete. I thought I HAD deleted it, but there it was when I hit post reply. Why was it still there when I had highlighted it, erased it, and gone on to make a different post? Is there some buffer in which posts sit? I meant to reply to a certain comment, hit the wrong entry by mistake, erased what I wrote, backed out (or so I thought) and then hit the right comment button and wrote what I wanted to write. HOWEVER, when I hit post reply, there was the old text, unwanted, erased or so I thought, sitting right there in the wrong place, and here you are telling me not to do that. I get why and everything, but I don't get why erasing something isn't enough to make it go away! How do I avoid THAT kind of problem? I can't find an answer in the help file for "I erased it but the program still put it in there" problems. Can someone tell me why that happened or how to avoid it?

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There is indeed a buffer and the forum software tries to help you by saving drafts periodically. If you start a post and a draft is saved, when you return later the draft is loaded but greyed out. Notice that as soon as you take some action in the edit window, the text is no longer grey. This is supposed to alert you that it is now part of your post. You have to select anything you don't want and delete it.

I find this behaviour mildly annoying, but it can save you a lot of typing when things go wrong. You can control drafts with the Drafts button at the top of the edit window (looks like a floppy). You can use this to delete any saved draft. When I'm abandoning a post that I know I won't want, I try to remember to use that button to get rid of any draft that was saved. Otherwise, I have to remember to check for a saved draft the next time I reply in that thread. As you've discovered, the trap is that when you hit reply, the port you're responding to is also added in greyed-out text, and this can obscure the fact that you have a saved draft, especially with a long quote.

There is indeed a buffer and the forum software tries to help you by saving drafts periodically. If you start a post and a draft is saved, when you return later the draft is loaded but greyed out. Notice that as soon as you take some action in the edit window, the text is no longer grey. This is supposed to alert you that it is now part of your post. You have to select anything you don't want and delete it.

I find this behaviour mildly annoying, but it can save you a lot of typing when things go wrong. You can control drafts with the Drafts button at the top of the edit window (looks like a floppy). You can use this to delete any saved draft. When I'm abandoning a post that I know I won't want, I try to remember to use that button to get rid of any draft that was saved. Otherwise, I have to remember to check for a saved draft the next time I reply in that thread. As you've discovered, the trap is that when you hit reply, the port you're responding to is also added in greyed-out text, and this can obscure the fact that you have a saved draft, especially with a long quote.

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This is why I hesitate to ever post a question. I am sorry that I annoyed you. It will NOT happen again.

This is why I hesitate to ever post a question. I am sorry that I annoyed you. It will NOT happen again.

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I don't mean to speak for Pakalolo, but I think you misunderstood his last post.

I am certain that what he meant, was that the forum automatically caching old posts and adding them to new ones could be mildly annoying to the user trying to write a new post. Not that he was annoyed with you in any way.

I don't mean to speak for Pakalolo, but I think you misunderstood his last post.

I am certain that what he meant, was that the forum automatically caching old posts and adding them to new ones could be mildly annoying to the user trying to write a new post. Not that he was annoyed with you in any way.

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Thanks, you are correct of course. What confuses me is that I was responding to someone else.

Thanks, you are correct of course. What confuses me is that I was responding to someone else.

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And as that someone else, I found your point quite instructive. I appreciate the extended explanation.It made great sense to me.

As for the "annoyance" misunderstanding, I do have to side with bean420 on one thing. It CAN be very intimidating to "break into" a community like this. I know there's an answer to my question somewhere in here, but I'm disabled,and I have just enough energy and time to come here and learn about vaping. I really am not interested in teaching myself a new program just to do it. So a great answer with friendly overtones like I got from you, Pakalolo, makes it easier for me to step up and become a part of the active conversation. I don't have to hunt for an answer to an admittedly "dumb" question when there is a staf person who not only lets me know if I accidentally break a rule, but HOW I broke it, why, and how to avoid it. That makes me WANT to be a part of the community. I suspect bean420 skimmed the reply, saw the "annoyance" out of context, and replied from his or her own feelings like mine: being on the edges of a community can make you feel like an annoyance to those who are busy inside that community. I've felt it elsewhere, but not, I am happy to say, here! So, bean420, don't give up. You're not the only newb around, and they don't mind us here. This is a good community to step into... Or so it's been for me so far! Info on this site has changed my life on more than one level!

And as that someone else, I found your point quite instructive. I appreciate the extended explanation.It made great sense to me.

As for the "annoyance" misunderstanding, I do have to side with bean420 on one thing. It CAN be very intimidating to "break into" a community like this. I know there's an answer to my question somewhere in here, but I'm disabled,and I have just enough energy and time to come here and learn about vaping. I really am not interested in teaching myself a new program just to do it. So a great answer with friendly overtones like I got from you, Pakalolo, makes it easier for me to step up and become a part of the active conversation. I don't have to hunt for an answer to an admittedly "dumb" question when there is a staf person who not only lets me know if I accidentally break a rule, but HOW I broke it, why, and how to avoid it. That makes me WANT to be a part of the community. I suspect bean420 skimmed the reply, saw the "annoyance" out of context, and replied from his or her own feelings like mine: being on the edges of a community can make you feel like an annoyance to those who are busy inside that community. I've felt it elsewhere, but not, I am happy to say, here! So, bean420, don't give up. You're not the only newb around, and they don't mind us here. This is a good community to step into... Or so it's been for me so far! Info on this site has changed my life on more than one level!

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I sure hope that this is in the right format and not repeated. I am a 61 year old lady who suffers from a horrible case of Arthritis. I can hardly type. I apologize for jumping to conclusions but I have not since one answer or question that has been done properly. I am going to try and just read the posts and learn from them. I do not have the patience to learn all about a program and all of its ins and outs.
Sometimes just reading email is impossible.

Oatmaster, I thank you for the understanding and the info. This is a very tough group to join. Very informative but very rigid. It helps a lot to enjoy the vape and relax a little. I am lighthearted when I come on here and am just trying to enjoy myself.

I have a masters in education and taught school for 14 years. I have the ability to understand the program but I am just not interested in all of it. Just a little enjoyment. Thanks. V

I sure hope that this is in the right format and not repeated. I am a 61 year old lady who suffers from a horrible case of Arthritis. I can hardly type. I apologize for jumping to conclusions but I have not since one answer or question that has been done properly. I am going to try and just read the posts and learn from them. I do not have the patience to learn all about a program and all of its ins and outs.
Sometimes just reading email is impossible.

Oatmaster, I thank you for the understanding and the info. This is a very tough group to join. Very informative but very rigid. It helps a lot to enjoy the vape and relax a little. I am lighthearted when I come on here and am just trying to enjoy myself.

I have a masters in education and taught school for 14 years. I have the ability to understand the program but I am just not interested in all of it. Just a little enjoyment. Thanks. V

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You don't owe me or anyone an apology. There was a simple misunderstanding, that's all. Please don't feel intimidated. I don't know what threads you follow, but if you want enjoyment there are all sorts of crazy things in the Lounge. Then there's the Parkinson's Disease thread in the Medical sub-forum. That's where the wackiest off-the-wall stuff (some not for the faint-hearted) comes mixed with doses of sobering reality. Even if you don't participate, you might find it entertaining.

After you're more comfortable with FC, if you do feel that you might like to learn more about using it, just post something here or start a Conversation with me by clicking on my avatar.

I sure hope that this is in the right format and not repeated. I am a 61 year old lady who suffers from a horrible case of Arthritis. I can hardly type. I apologize for jumping to conclusions but I have not since one answer or question that has been done properly. I am going to try and just read the posts and learn from them. I do not have the patience to learn all about a program and all of its ins and outs.
Sometimes just reading email is impossible.

Oatmaster, I thank you for the understanding and the info. This is a very tough group to join. Very informative but very rigid. It helps a lot to enjoy the vape and relax a little. I am lighthearted when I come on here and am just trying to enjoy myself.

I have a masters in education and taught school for 14 years. I have the ability to understand the program but I am just not interested in all of it. Just a little enjoyment. Thanks. V

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Boy do I understand that. I'm 57, and up til about 2 years ago, I would have said I knew all there was to know about smoking pot. I have had several truly incredible epiphanies in the time since AZ "allowed" us to use medical marijuana as a treatment. Learning how to store it properly, learning how to smoke it properly, learning how to make it last, then learning NOT to burn it, ie, vaping, and its whole learning curve... Sometimes I think my head will split open from all the new and conflicting information! Fortunately, I like that kind of challenge.

And challenges abound. I made a back to back post the first time out. Didn't mean to. Just couldn't figure out how to properly erase an unwanted comment.. Thanks to Pakololo, I know how to NOT do that again. I started being a part of this forum partily because I love that name, and partly because of tdavie's work on temperatures and what's released at what temperature. There are clearly several viewpoints on that data. You can find my interpretation, based on my own experiences and experiments on/with others, at vaping4life.wordpress.com, if you want.

The tdavie person I mentioned above writes a whole long series of posts about his adventures in vaping at this location: http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/vaporization-temperature-dependent-selection-of-effects.1637/. I found it really informative, and in fact, it's one of the epiphanies I mentioned. Made me realize a LOT about the power of vaping, as well as the power of the compounds being released! And as always, it was another in a line of wake-up instructions set off by reading something I normally wouldn't read. When Google pulled "FuckCombustion.com" up I thought it was an anti-smoking site. I was right, but not the way I thought I would be! Never know what you're going to find!

Start a conversation with me any time you want to talk about chronic pain conditions and how we use mmj for them, or about vaping itself, or temps or anything at all. I'm almost always on for at least a little while every day. Definitely check out the vaporizer section corresponding with your own model; you just never know what you will learn. I didn't know there was that much TO learn about the volcano, but I keep finding out new things. Enjoy the references above, write if you want, but definitely DO relax and enjoy the vaping!

Hey I've tried using the search bar and can't comb through posts to find it. I remember reading a full PnP cleaning thread from either @BarnBoy or @VAPEHUNTER or someone, could someone link it for me please??

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To see all posts and threads by a member, go to the profile page and select the Postings tab. This lists the last 15 posts. At the bottom you will see two links, one to all posts from the member, and one to all threads started by that member.

I keep getting nailed for back-to-back posts. So I have been very careful to make sure I'm not doing it. If I need to add something to my post, I go into an existing post and edit it. But I am still getting in trouble and do not understand what it is that I am doing wrong. My avatar has not appeared back-to-back since I got my second notice.

The staff usually will merge the back to back posts into one post, so you wouldn't see your avatar back to back since we would have "fixed" it by merging. You will still get a friendly reminder from us to let you know that your posts were merged.

So someone curates/catalogs info in my posts that is repetitive and then combines it to make one post? How will I ever figure out what I'm doing wrong; I don't want to keep screwing up.

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We don't alter your posts, we just merge them. You obviously weren't aware, but what you've done "wrong" is post again in the same thread when you should have edited your previous post. This is a common mistake. Nobody gets in trouble for it unless we believe that you are deliberately ignoring our reminders.